1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to information technology (IT), and specifically to IT services provided by a service provider. The methods and systems of the present invention allow a service provider to manage a customer computer system under a variety of system conditions using a collection of cooperating processes or services, each with a domain of expertise and distributed between local and remote locations.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In many computer system configurations, including computer network systems, a customer has a network of on-site client and server computers. These computers run software for various customer specific processes. A service provider for the customer also has a network of client and server computers at its site to run software that provides various remote system management services to the customer through an inter-site communication link. Such remote management can include anti-virus scanning, system monitoring (e.g., disk capacity, memory capacity and CPU processing), disk defragmentation, software upgrade, and recovery from hardware and software failures.
Systems permitting this type of remote system management typically install agent software from the service provider on computers at the customer site. These agents receive and execute commands, expressed as messages, from the computers at the service provider site. These agents monitor the customer computer functions, both hardware and software, and originate events as messages. The agent system sends these messages to the system management software on computers at the service provider site.
Although efficient, this remote method of managing customer computers is vulnerable to dynamic changes within the network system. Such dynamic changes can include adverse system conditions such as inter-site communication link problems. Inter-site communication links (i.e., linking customer and service provider computers) can be interrupted for many reasons or slowed by congestion caused by other information passing along the same inter-site connection. These interruptions can cause a lack of timely interaction between customer and service provider systems. Further, congestion in the communication network can delay both command and event messages, preventing a timely resolution of problems and an accurate representation of the customer's computer's operating status. Further, some hardware and software problems at the customer site may also affect the inter-site communication link.
Methods and systems to address the inter-site communication link problem in system management are needed. Rather than a single off-site service responsible for all managed customer situations, this new system should act as a collection of cooperating processes or services, each with a domain of expertise and distributed between local and remote locations.
Surveillance systems that apportion system management between the customer site and service provider site are known in the prior art. Esbensen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,796,942 describes a method and apparatus for ensuring secure network communications by conducting surveillance and checking data transmitted on a network for noteworthy or suspicious activity in real time. Detection of such activity generates a command and appropriate intervention actions are taken. In one embodiment of this invention, surveillance agents capture events and transfer them to a server for reconstruction and analysis at a remote site.
Unfortunately, Esbensen et al., does not address the need for system management software having a collection of cooperating processes or services, each with a domain of expertise and distributed between local and remote locations.